Leah Pritchett won this weekend in the NHRA Top Fuel class. She has now won the first two events of the season, which hasn't happened in the Top Fuel class in 20 years! She beat another woman, Brittany Force, in the final on Sunday.

I've always somewhat wondered why so many more women are competitive in drag racing than any other field of motorsport. Certainly despite the G-forces those things are generating they don't seem to have any troubles physically.

I wonder if it could be the nature of family teams in the lower categories where the girls who are inclined are turning wrenches from an early age and racing in "run what you brung" classes cheaply. Also how far up the ladder you can go with an operation like that.

Essentially drag racing is more egalitarian than most other types of Motorsport.

Leah Pritchett won this weekend in the NHRA Top Fuel class. She has now won the first two events of the season, which hasn't happened in the Top Fuel class in 20 years! She beat another woman, Brittany Force, in the final on Sunday.

I've always somewhat wondered why so many more women are competitive in drag racing than any other field of motorsport. Certainly despite the G-forces those things are generating they don't seem to have any troubles physically.

I wonder if it could be the nature of family teams in the lower categories where the girls who are inclined are turning wrenches from an early age and racing in "run what you brung" classes cheaply. Also how far up the ladder you can go with an operation like that.

Essentially drag racing is more egalitarian than most other types of Motorsport.

Exactly right. The Force family is a great example.

_________________"No, there is no terrible way to win. There is only winning."Jean-Pierre Sarti

Wish I had more time to give to this thread.. sadly '18 was not a great year for female racing drivers. I'll look into who may be on the cards for '18 but any heads-ups from the forum would be appreciated.

Wish I had more time to give to this thread.. sadly '18 was not a great year for female racing drivers. I'll look into who may be on the cards for '18 but any heads-ups from the forum would be appreciated.

Last year, Brittany Force won the NHRA Top Fuel title, which was the first time a woman won that title since 3-time champ Shirley Muldowney won her last title in 1982. Her sister, Courtney, finished 3rd in Funny Car. Leah Pritchett was 5th in Top Fuel, with herself and Force combining for 8 wins (from 24 events).

It’s a little something but, yeah, not the best year for females on the whole.

For 2018, Danica will run her best two events: Daytona and Indy.

Also, Natalie Decker looks like a very promising talent. She was on pole for the Daytona race in the ARCA championship, which is sort of the “Euro F3” of American stock car racing. She’s won a lot on her way up so far.

That’s all I can think of, really.

By the way, Brittany Force just had a NASTY crash at the Winternationals about an hour from where I live. Looks like she’ll be okay.

_________________"No, there is no terrible way to win. There is only winning."Jean-Pierre Sarti

Wish I had more time to give to this thread.. sadly '18 was not a great year for female racing drivers. I'll look into who may be on the cards for '18 but any heads-ups from the forum would be appreciated.

Last year, Brittany Force won the NHRA Top Fuel title, which was the first time a woman won that title since 3-time champ Shirley Muldowney won her last title in 1982. Her sister, Courtney, finished 3rd in Funny Car. Leah Pritchett was 5th in Top Fuel, with herself and Force combining for 8 wins (from 24 events).

It’s a little something but, yeah, not the best year for females on the whole.

For 2018, Danica will run her best two events: Daytona and Indy.

Also, Natalie Decker looks like a very promising talent. She was on pole for the Daytona race in the ARCA championship, which is sort of the “Euro F3” of American stock car racing. She’s won a lot on her way up so far.

That’s all I can think of, really.

By the way, Brittany Force just had a NASTY crash at the Winternationals about an hour from where I live. Looks like she’ll be okay.

Glad to see the news says Brittany Force did not sustain any significant injuries. That was a horrific looking crash

Started updating the first post with this years updates. Not looking good, but after doing this for a few years it absolutely shows the true picture. There are quite a few female karters, some do really well but like any driver when they start to progress up the ladder and competition increases, results don't come and the career tails off. There has been no female driver winning consistently in any of the lower single-seat formulas.

Carmen "Easy Way Out" Jorda needs to shut the bleep up. It's insulting to women, tbh. I wouldn't want my daughter settling for second best when she can aim higher. It also doesn't speak well of her confidence or drive when she supports these notions publicly.

I'm the first to tell you that men and women aren't equal athletically, and we really don't compete on a level playing field in any sport. However, i want every young girl to strive to better their male peers in all walks of light, and Jorda ain't exactly blazing a trail in that regard. It's a shame because she's still quite accomplished to have gotten as far as she has. I'd prefer she used it to empower. Aim high. Set goals that exceed your reach and you might become Inspector Gadget.

It's like she's been hired by some sort of "men racing lobby" to say all kinds of stuff that detriment from women in racing. Not the first time she's said something like this.

edit: somewhat more realistic, she's probably projecting her own deficiencies onto women in general. And that's not meant as a nasty remark, just a realistic one.

yes, I'd agree. It reads to me like she looking for excuses as to why women haven't as yet succeeded in F1 and concluded that women are inferior, which possibly reflects her own insecurities (and like you, that's not intended as a dig). She's not looking for ways to resolve it, but avoid it, and I think that's probably doing more harm than good

It's great to see Jenson Button making an EXCELLENT point. An F1 car, at 728kg (1605 pounds) weighs less than half that of a NASCAR stock car (1500kg, or 3300 pounds). If a pint-sized, 110 pound Danica Patrick muscled her NASCAR racer around American ovals at 190 mph (306kph) for years, then a woman should have no physical complaints about driving an F1 car... only 10,000 years of cultural indoctrination.

And let's not forget Danica Patrick won Pole Position at the 2013 Daytona 500 race, and won an Indycar race prior to this in an open-wheel Indycar.

_________________Short-time member, Life-Long Fan from 1965 -- More than 550 Grand Prix recorded since 1982 (all but 3), and counting...

Last edited by MB-BOB on Tue Mar 06, 2018 8:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.

And also 'Physical barrier is not your issue Carmen'. He's not holding back.

He isn't, and it surprises me because in those circles normally people are very careful with their words, very politically correct.

But he's absolutely right, and at some point somebody has to try and get the point across because she's singlehandedly reverting people's opinion on female racing drivers back to where it was in the stone ages.

Indeed. Looking at the responses on social media (which is a foolish exercise in itself, I'll admit, but humour me anyway) I found it ironic that Sergey Sirotkin, a driver who has twice finished top-three in the highest feeder series to F1, gets destroyed for being a pay driver. Yet Sauber's decision to enhance Tatiana Calderon's role, when she is three years Sirotkin's senior and has managed precisely four GP3 points finishes was widely greeted as a positive thing. I get that some of that is Sirotkin taking the seat rather than Kubica, and some of that is related to Calderon's gender, but let's be honest here: she's never going to be good enough to succeed in F1 and she's done nothing to warrant such a role. As it is she's another woman who has been given an opportunity in F1 because of something other than talent and results, which is a shame. At least the positive is that it could inspire some young girls to want to try and follow her footsteps simply because they're too young to understand the talent aspect of it. The same went with Susie Wolff, Simona de Silvestro and, sigh, even Carmen Jorda.

I just wish for once there could be a young female driver who gets an opportunity like that because of the results she's obtained on the track. And the funny thing is, if there was a female driver doing well in F2, or probably even at F3/GP3 level, I bet the smaller F1 teams would be falling over themselves to try and sign her.

Indeed. Looking at the responses on social media (which is a foolish exercise in itself, I'll admit, but humour me anyway) I found it ironic that Sergey Sirotkin, a driver who has twice finished top-three in the highest feeder series to F1, gets destroyed for being a pay driver. Yet Sauber's decision to enhance Tatiana Calderon's role, when she is three years Sirotkin's senior and has managed precisely four GP3 points finishes was widely greeted as a positive thing. I get that some of that is Sirotkin taking the seat rather than Kubica, and some of that is related to Calderon's gender, but let's be honest here: she's never going to be good enough to succeed in F1 and she's done nothing to warrant such a role. As it is she's another woman who has been given an opportunity in F1 because of something other than talent and results, which is a shame. At least the positive is that it could inspire some young girls to want to try and follow her footsteps simply because they're too young to understand the talent aspect of it. The same went with Susie Wolff, Simona de Silvestro and, sigh, even Carmen Jorda.

The problem with Jorda is that she now seems to be, of all people, the top female influencer in F1 and she's not exactly managing it well. I think Susie did a good job, image-wise, but Jorda seems to be destroying whatever credit Susie built up.

Anyhow, right on the money with Sirotkin. Wouldn't surprise me if he proved to be a stable pair of hands and he could be with us for quite some time.

It's great to see Jenson Button making an EXCELLENT point. An F1 car, at 728kg (1605 pounds) weighs less than half that of a NASCAR stock car (1500kg, or 3300 pounds). If a pint-sized, 110 pound Danica Patrick muscled her NASCAR racer around American ovals at 190 mph (306kph) for years, then a woman should have no physical complaints about driving an F1 car... only 10,000 years of cultural indoctrination.

And let's not forget Danica Patrick won Pole Position at the 2013 Daytona 500 race, and won an Indycar race prior to this in an open-wheel Indycar.

This proves nothing, NASCARs are easy to drive, plenty of older drivers there racing at competitive level, and everyone knows age takes its toll on the body.

In fact, we see guys such as Castroneves remain competitive at Indy 500 even near 40. Oval racing is hardly strenuous on the body itself.

Compare to F1 where even Schumacher struggled a lot when attempting to race in his 40s.

Danica did win an IRL race but it was largely due to pit strategy.

_________________

"Ask any racer, any real racer... It don't matter if you win by an inch or a mile. Winning is winning." (Dominic Toretto, "The Fast and The Furious")

That Indy is perhaps not as physically demanding and punishing on the human body is one thing, that it's "easy" and hardly strenuous on the human body is completely untrue. Driving on ovals at high speeds is indeed quite strenuous on the human body to the point drivers strap their helmets to the left of the vehicles because it is so strenuous. With course track racing it's different in that the constant changes of direction are endless from start to finish, but drivers must endure those changes for brief periods. What oval drivers do causes far more fatigue on the neck muscles and since it seems you're not fully informed on the genre, drivers at the Texas motor speedway had to lift and pull into the pits due to light headedness caused by the extreme speeds it would've caused them to black out had they continued to run and increase speeds because they were running at a CONSTANT 5 G's.

That's ALL the way over on the other side of the Not Strenuous spectrum.

The only thing Michael struggled a lot with upon his return was squeezing more out of a car that wan't the class of the field and driving with silly putty tires. But then, oh yeah, he put it on pole at Monaco, likely the most difficult track to drive all out on in the entire world.

That Indy is perhaps not as physically demanding and punishing on the human body is one thing, that it's "easy" and hardly strenuous on the human body is completely untrue. Driving on ovals at high speeds is indeed quite strenuous on the human body to the point drivers strap their helmets to the left of the vehicles because it is so strenuous. With course track racing it's different in that the constant changes of direction are endless from start to finish, but drivers must endure those changes for brief periods. What oval drivers do causes far more fatigue on the neck muscles and since it seems you're not fully informed on the genre, drivers at the Texas motor speedway had to lift and pull into the pits due to light headedness caused by the extreme speeds it would've caused them to black out had they continued to run and increase speeds because they were running at a CONSTANT 5 G's.

That's ALL the way over on the other side of the Not Strenuous spectrum.

The only thing Michael struggled a lot with upon his return was squeezing more out of a car that wan't the class of the field and driving with silly putty tires. But then, oh yeah, he put it on pole at Monaco, likely the most difficult track to drive all out on in the entire world.

People who actually raced oval at top level have said road course is harder on the body. You can look around.

The most difficult part of oval tracks is the mental aspect. Traffic, risk of accidents, sheer speed and little room for error are the biggest issues, not physicality.

And in NASCAR you don't get nearly the same levels of G-force as in IndyCar. The cars are slower (top speed 200 mph, IndyCar goes past 240 mph), much heavier, and run with restrictors at the superspeedways. Out of the current IndyCar ovals, Indy 500 is a round square so the G-force is not constant either, while Pocono is a tri-oval.

Nevertheless, my point was that size of the car does not make it any more difficult to drive. A stock car is unwieldy but reacts slower than any modern single-seater. There are plenty of women competitive in GT racing but none in F1 and the most successful ones at IndyCar have never even mounted a serious title challenge. Whereas men beyond 40 years old are not uncommon in American single-seater series, even during CART era of absurd speeds and spectacular cars, men that were well past their prime to race competitively in F1 at the time.

_________________

"Ask any racer, any real racer... It don't matter if you win by an inch or a mile. Winning is winning." (Dominic Toretto, "The Fast and The Furious")

Calderon set the 5th fastest time on the last day at the second pre-season GP3 test at Jerez, 0.3s behind fastest Leonardo Pulcini but less than 0.1s behind second fastest Pedro Piquet!

That's competitive enough for me

For F1, really?

Entering her third season at this level, too. A level in which only one of the drivers to win the title wasn't a rookie (Mitch Evans, who won it in his second year) and at an age which is, quite frankly, ancient by GP3 standards.

Calderon set the 5th fastest time on the last day at the second pre-season GP3 test at Jerez, 0.3s behind fastest Leonardo Pulcini but less than 0.1s behind second fastest Pedro Piquet!

That's competitive enough for me

For F1, really?

Entering her third season at this level, too. A level in which only one of the drivers to win the title wasn't a rookie (Mitch Evans, who won it in his second year) and at an age which is, quite frankly, ancient by GP3 standards.

And it's testing. Let's see if she can be that competitive during the season. I'm not holding my breath.